儒琴英语咀嚼阿兰·德波顿的《旅行的艺术》 (The Art of Travel) 英语用词。阿兰·德波顿(Alain de Botton)是一位出生于瑞士的英国哲学家和作家。他写的散文式的书被称为“日常生活哲学”。他的作品涉及爱情、旅行、建筑和文学，包括小说《爱情笔记》（1993）、《爱上浪漫》（1994）、《亲吻与诉说》（1995）及散文作品《拥抱逝水年华》（1997 ）、《哲学的慰藉》（2000）、《旅行的艺术》（2002）、《写给无神论者》（2012）。他的书在30个国家畅销。
Motives : III On the Exotic 4
动机：第3章: 异国情调 第4节
To understand why Flaubert found Egypt exotic, it may therefore be useful first to examine his feelings toward France. What would strike him as exotic – that is, both new and valuable – about Egypt was in many ways the obverse of what had driven him to rage at home. And these were, baldly stated, the belief and behaviour of the French bourgeoisie, which had, since the fall of Napoleon, become the dominant force in society, determining the tenor of the press, politics, manners and public life. For Flaubert, the French bourgeoisie was a repository of the most extreme prudery, snobbery, smugness, racism and pomposity. “It’s strange how the most banal utterances (of the bourgeoisie) sometimes make me marvel,” he complained in stifled rage. “There are gestures, sounds of people’s voices, that I cannot get over, silly remarks that almost give me vertigo…the bourgeois… is for me something unfathomable.” He nevertheless spent thirty years trying to fathom it, most comprehensively in his Dictionary of Received Ideas, a satirical catalogue of the French bourgeoisie’s more striking sheep-like prejudices.
To group only a few of these dictionary entries into themes indicates the direction of his complaints against his homeland, upon which his enthusiasm for Egypt would be built.
A SUSPICION OF ARTISTIC ENDEAVOUR
ABSINTHE – Exceptionally violent poison: one glass and you’re a dead man. Journalists drink it while writing their articles, Has killed more soldiers than the bedouins.
ARCHITECTS – All idiots: they always forget to put staircases in houses.
INTOLERANCE AND IGNORANCE OF OTHER COUNTRIES (AND THEIR ANIMALS)
ENGLISH women – Express surprises that they can have pretty children.
CAMEL – Has two humps and the dromedary one; or else the camel has one and dromedary two – nobody can ever remember which.
ELEPHANT – Noted for their memories and worship the sun.
FRENCH – The greatest people in the world.
Hotels – Are first-rate only in the Switzerland.
ITALIANS – All musical. All treacherous.
JOHN BULL – When you don’t know an Englishman’s name, call him John Bull.
KORAN- Book by Mohammed, which is all about women.
BLACKS – Express surprise that their saliva is white and that they can speak French.
BLACK WOMEN – Hotter than white women ( see also Brunettes and Blondes).
BLACK- Always followed by “as ebony”.
OASIS – An inn in the desert.
HAREM WOMEN – All Oriental women are harem women.
PALM TREE – Lends local colour.
MACHISMO, EARNESTNESS
FIRST – To govern France, an iron fist is needed.
GUN – Always keep one in the countryside.
BEARD – Sign of strength. Too much beard causes baldness. Helps to protect ties.
Flaubert to Louise Colet, August 1846: What stops me from taking myself seriously, even though I’m essentially a serious person, is that I find myself extremely ridiculous, not in the sense of the small-scale ridiculousness of slapstick comedy, but rather in the sense of a ridiculousness that seems intrinsic to human life and that manifests itself in the simple actions and most ordinary gestures, For example, I can never shave without starting to laugh, it seems so idiotic. But all this is very difficult to explain…
SENTIMENTALITY
ANIMALS – “If only animals could speak! There are some which are more intelligent than humans.”
COMMUNION- One’s first communion: the greatest day of one’s life.
INSPIRATION (POETIC)-Aroused by: the sight of the sea, love, women, etc.
ILLUSIONS – Pretend to have had a great many, and complain that you have lost them all.
FAITH IN PROGRESS, PRIDE IN TECHNOLOGY
RAILWAYS – Enthuse about them, saying,”I, my dear sir, who am speaking to you now, was at X this morning. I took the train to X, I transacted my business there, and by X o’clock I was back here.”
PRETENSION
BIBLE – The oldest book in the world.
BEDROOM – In an old castle: Henri IV always spent a night in it.
MUSHROOMS- Should be bought only at the market.
CRUSADES – Benefited Venetian trade.
DIDEROT – Always followed by d’Alembert.
MELON – Nice topic for dinner-time conversation. Is it a vegetable or fruit? The English eat it for dessert, which is astonishing.
STROLL- Always take one after dinner, it helps with digestion.
SNAKES – all poisonous.
OLD PEOPLE – When discussing a flood, thunderstorm, etc., they cannot remember ever having seen a worse one.
PRISSINESS, REPRESSED SEXUALITY
BLONDES – Hotter than brunettes ( see also Brunettes).
BRUNETTES – Hotter than blondes ( see also Blondes).
SEX – Word to avoid, Say instead, “Intimacy occurred…”
重点用词注解
obverse: 对立面；反面 facing the observer or opponent; the opposite or counterpart of a fact or truth.
tenor: noun (CHARACTER) [ U ] formal the general meaning, character, or pattern of something 大意；要旨；基调
prudery (prudishness): 假正经; 谈性色变的态度(或行为) the characteristic quality or state of a prude; the quality of being very easily shocked by rude things, especially by anything relating to sex
smugness: noun [ U ] disapproving /ˈsmʌɡ.nəs/ 洋洋自得；自视甚高；自命清高；装模作样 highly self-satisfied
pomposity (pompousness): pompous demeanor, speech, or behavior 浮夸; 虚华;
vertigo: noun [ U ] /ˈvɝː.t̬ə.ɡoʊ/眩晕 a sensation of motion in which the individual or the individual’s surroundings seem to whirl dizzily
Bedouin : noun [ C ] /ˈbed.u.ɪn/ plural Bedouin or Bedouins , a member of an Arab people living in or near the desert 贝都因人（居住在沙漠地带的阿拉伯人）
slapstick: noun [ U ]/ˈslæp.stɪk/ 打闹剧，粗俗滑稽剧 comedy stressing farce and horseplay
intrinsic: adjective /ɪnˈtrɪn.zɪk/ 固有的，本质的，根本的 belonging to the essential nature of a thing
